Exploring Australian of the Year Awards
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Exploring Australian of the Year Awards Years 7 to 8 National Australia Day Council Teaching and learning resources australiaday.org.au Exploring Australian of the Year Awards Years: 7–8 Inquiry Focus: Diversity and cohesion At a glance What do the Australian of the Year Awards say about a changing and diverse Australia? Inquiry overview This sequence of investigations considers the history of the Australian of the Year Awards and the gallery of outstanding Australians that the Awards celebrate. Using primary and secondary source materials including content hosted on the Australian of the Year website, newspaper archives and biographies, students explore how Australia’s changing perspectives on diversity, inclusion and social responsibility are enacted through the Awards over time. The unit will comprise investigative sequences that draw together findings based on evidence. Later in the investigation, ‘Tell their story’ will invite students to draw their findings together and to nominate one Australian of the Year they feel best represents the spirit of the Awards. Teaching and learning resources Exploring Australian of the Year Awards 2 Links to the Australian Curriculum Years 7–8 Civics and Citizenship Australian Curriculum version 7.5 Australian Curriculum version 8 Knowledge and Year 7 Year 7 understanding How values, including freedom, respect, How values, including freedom, respect, inclusion, civility, responsibility, compassion, inclusion, civility, responsibility, equality and a ‘fair go’, can promote compassion, equality and a ‘fair go’, can cohesion within Australian society promote cohesion within Australian society (ACHCK052) (ACHASSK197) Year 8 Year 8 How national identity can shape a sense of How national identity can shape a sense of belonging in Australia’s multicultural society belonging in Australia’s multicultural society (ACHCK067) (ACHCK067) Inquiry Year 7 Year 7 and skills ▶ Identify, gather and sort information and ▶ Apply a methodology to locate and ideas from a range of sources (ACHCS055) collect relevant information and data ▶ Critically analyse information and ideas from a range of primary and secondary from a range of sources in relation to sources (ACHASSI153) civics and citizenship topics and issues ▶ Analyse primary and secondary sources (ACHCS056) to identify values and perspectives ▶ Reflect on their role as a citizen in on people, actions, events, issues Australia’s democracy (ACHCS060) and phenomena, past and present (ACHASSI157) Year 8 ▶ Reflect on learning to propose personal ▶ Identify, gather and sort information and and/ or collective action in response ideas from a range of sources (ACHCS069) to an issue or challenge, taking ▶ • Critically analyse information and ideas into account different perspectives, ▶ from a range of sources in relation to and describe the expected effects (ACHASSI162) ▶ civics and citizenship topics and issues ▶ (ACHCS070) Year 8 ▶ • Reflect on their role as a citizen in ▶ Identify, gather and sort information ▶ Australia’s democracy (ACHCS074) and ideas from a range of sources (ACHCS069) ▶ Critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources in relation to civics and citizenship topics and issues (ACHCS070) ▶ Reflect on their role as a citizen in Australia’s democracy (ACHCS074) General Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding, Information and communication capabilities technology capability, Literacy, Personal and social capability Teaching and learning resources Exploring Australian of the Year Awards 3 Getting started This unit begins with awards that students may have won or aspire to win. The sequence of activities has been designed to encourage students to think about what needs to be achieved to win an award and the purpose of receiving an award – for the individual and for others. Being awarded 1. Elicit student responses to the question ‘Who has ever won an award’ and elaborate on reasons for the award/s they have won, how it made them feel, and what it meant for them. 2. For those who may not have won an award, what award would they like to win? Why? Alternatively, show pictures or bring in examples of awards (eg athletics/swimming trophy, best and fairest, name on school honour board). What are the awards for? Who has won them? Who would like to win one of these awards? Why? 3. What other awards are students aware of (eg Brownlow Medal, Logies, bravery awards, ribbons in athletics and swimming, badges at Scouts or Guides, trophies for other activities)? Select one or two awards and note the prerequisites to win such an award and how the awards affect others and us. 4. We also have awards for being the ‘Greatest Australian’. Lead into the Australian of the Year Awards. What would you expect the ‘Greatest Australian’ to demonstrate? ▶ What does a person now need to demonstrate to win this award? How has this changed over time? ▶ What should the Australian of the Year winner demonstrate? Teaching and learning resources Exploring Australian of the Year Awards 4 Process Who has won the Australian of the Year Award? 1. 1. Investigate the first decade of Australian of the Year Awards (1960s). As a class, make a table that shows who won, their achievements and the qualities they showed. In some cases this may need to be extrapolated from the source material. For example: Year Australian of the Year Achievements Qualities 1960 Sir Macfarlane Burnet Nobel Prize for medicine for Research skills, dedication, research on immunology inventiveness, international recognition 1961 1962 Students analyse what they notice about the award winners in the 1960s (eg gender balance, nationality, age, achievements, country of birth, qualities, area/s of excellence). 2. Divide the class into five groups. Allocate a decade to each group (ie 1970s 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s). See www.australianoftheyear.org.au/honour-roll. Select appropriate decade for all award winners. 3. Using the same process as that was used for the 1960s, students make a table that shows all award winners. They insert an additional column that provides space for any interesting information about the award winner (eg quotes, anecdotes). 4. Once they have completed their decade, groups prepare a series of statements about what their investigation of one decade of award winners has shown. For example: ▶ ‘x more men than women have won the Award’ ▶ ‘there have been changes to the criteria for the Award’ ▶ ‘sportspeople or celebrities make up x% of those who have won the Award’ ▶ ‘there have been x number of First Australian award winners’ ▶ ‘there are now more categories of the Australian of the Year Awards than in x’. 5. Sharing information: groups upload information from their decade into a drop box for sharing with the rest of the class. Alternatively, students write their table on poster paper and display it around the room so all groups can see others’ work. Teaching and learning resources Exploring Australian of the Year Awards 5 6. Synthesis: the class devises an additional series of statements about what the complete investigation of each decade of award winners has shown. ▶ What has changed and what has stayed the same about the award winners (eg ‘there has been a change in the criteria for the selection of award winners’; ‘there are not many x people who have won an award’; ‘award winners are now x whereas 30 years ago this was not the case’). Note any ‘unusual’ years and why they are unusual. ▶ Students consider the award winners from the 1960s. Ask: Would you expect any of these people would have won an award this year? Why or why not? What does your response suggest about what is currently important to Australians? 7. What does this say about how Australia has changed over the last 50 or so years? 8. • Students discuss why the additional categories (Young, Senior and Local Hero) were created. Note: The previous activity should highlight that the award winners of the Australian of the Year Awards have increasingly become more diverse. There has also been a shift in focus from what a person has achieved to what they can achieve in the year of winning the award. See the alumni and honour roll sections of the Australian of the Year Awards website to find out what previous winners have done since winning their award. The following activity features Rosie Batty’s story. Students should note that, as her experience has demonstrated, award winners can be ‘ordinary people’ who become agents for change. There are potential community benefits that an award winner can achieve by winning the award. ‘Ordinary people’ winning awards: Spotlight on Rosie Batty (2015 Australian of the Year) Using information found on the Australian of the Year Awards website, as well as other reputable sources, students prepare a short oral presentation that responds to the following questions: ▶ Why do you think Rosie Batty won the Australian of the Year Award? ▶ Would it have been likely that Rosie Batty would have been nominated for the Australian of the Year Award in the 1960s? Why or why not? ▶ What Australian values do you think Rosie Batty demonstrates and why (eg freedom, respect, inclusion, civility, responsibility, compassion, equality and a ‘fair go’)? ▶ Why are these values important to Australian society? ▶ To what extent do award winners such as Rosie Batty make a difference? Teaching and learning resources Exploring Australian of the Year Awards 6 ‘Interviewing’ an award winner: A role-play In the next series of activities, students investigate one award winner who they regard as outstanding and they ‘tell their story’. Using a role-play that could take the form of an interview, small groups investigate important features of the person’s life, what they achieved before and after receiving the award. 1. 1. First, pairs or small groups select one award winner (Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year or Local Hero) who they regard as outstanding.